Skip to content
News and updates

Category: Higher Education

Overview of STEM Education Bills Recently Introduced

Posted on

Several bills have been introduced this summer surrounding the issue of STEM Education from elementary school through college, with the aim of increasing access for students to these subjects and preparing them for the 21st century workforce. Below is a quick overview and analysis of a few of these bills that we have been keeping our eye on.

HR 2159 – 21st Century STEM Competitive Jobs Act
Sponsor: Representative Bill Foster (D-IL)
Introduced: 5/23/13
Current Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Summary: This legislation aims to solve the problem that many employers face, which is that students are not adequately prepared for what the field needs. The goal is to encourage schools and employers to partner together to develop curriculum and program metrics, provide dual high school and college credit, and include an internship or apprenticeship as part of the program. The bill would provide competitive grants to school districts who collaborate with employers.

Foster Press Release

HR 2592 – STEM Innovation Networks Act of 2013
Sponsor: Representative Mike Honda (D-CA)
Introduced: 6/28/13
Current Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Summary: Similar to Representative Foster’s bill, this piece of legislation also encourages public-private partnerships and creates a grant program to promote this. In addition, the bill also supports the development of teachers who prepare students for post-secondary schooling and employment in STEM fields.

**Washington Congressmen Rick Larsen and Jim McDermott are Cosponsors of this bill.

Honda Press Release

S 1407 – Computer Science Education and Jobs Act of 2013
Sponsor: Senator Bob Casey (D-PA)
Introduced: 7/31/13
Current Status: Referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Summary: This is a bipartisan bill that Senator Casey introduced with Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) to address the issue of a lack of computer science education in K-12 schools. The Senators’ claim that computer science is the primary driver for job growth in the STEM fields, and increasing access and exposing children to computer science education at the elementary and secondary school levels will pique their interest and position themselves for high-skilled, good-paying jobs in the future. The legislation aims to clarify federal policies to make sure that computer science programs in states are eligible for federal funding.

Casey Press Release

Student Loan Bill Approved by Congress

Posted on

Last night, the House approved the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act (HR 1911). This bill:

  • Sets the annual interest rate on Direct Stafford loans and Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans issued to undergraduate students at the rate on high-yield 10-year Treasury notes plus 2.05%, but caps that rate at 8.25%;
  • Sets the annual interest rate on Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans issued to graduate or professional students at the rate on high-yield 10-year Treasury notes plus 3.6%, but caps that rate at 9.5%, and;
  • Sets the annual interest rate on Direct PLUS loans at the rate on high-yield 10-year Treasury notes plus 4.6%, but caps that rate at 10.5%.

The President is expected to sign the bill.

HR 1911 is in response to the recent increase in student loan rates from 3.4 percent up to 6.8 percent. Congress calls the bill a compromise but not a perfect solution to rising interest rates. The UW hopes that Congress will revisit this issue when they take up the Higher Education Act later this year.

Things Heat Up in Congress

Posted on

Congress returns to work this week under a heat advisory for our fist long stretch of very hot and humid weather in DC. Today is predicted to see 94 degrees in the nation’s capitol, but it will feel more like 101 according to weather.com. And today will likely be the coolest day of the week! The good news (or bad news?) is that most of the action will take place indoors as Congress continues to slog through their cluttered agenda.

FY14 Appropriations: Appropriators in both chambers continue to move their FY14 spending bills forward this week, with the House ready to take up a $512.5 billion defense spending bill that accounts for more than half of the $967 billion in FY14 discretionary spending being considered in that chamber. On Wednesday, House Appropriations will also mark up the $47.4 billion Commerce-Justice-Science bill. The panel the same day will mark up a $17 billion Financial Services bill that would cut the Internal Revenue Service budget by nearly a quarter. Senate Appropriations subcommittees mark up their version of the Commerce-Justice-State and Homeland Security spending bills on Tuesday.

The major issue remains to be the $91 billion budget gap between the two chambers. The House and Senate are preparing spending bills that adhere to vastly different overall numbers, which will make reconciling any of these bills near impossible before September 30th. It is almost certain that we will see short-term continuing resolution this fall, with the final outcome unknown at this time. Continue reading “Things Heat Up in Congress”

July Federal Update

Posted on

FY14 APPROPRIATIONS

The path to enacting FY14 appropriations measures is paved with legislative friction as Congress is showing no signs of undoing the sequester and the House and Senate chambers are working on vastly different overall budget numbers. At this point, there are three budgets — House, Senate, and White House — all of which assume no sequestration, but include different ways to account for the cuts in later years.

The House is advancing its FY14 appropriations bills at a $967 billion overall spending cap, while the Senate is working with a $1.058 trillion cap, which does not take into account the sequester. Ironically, both the House and Senate plans would trigger a new round of across-the-board spending reductions under sequestration because they violate the caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (PL 111-25). But the House GOP plan busts the caps in defense and other security measures while the Senate is expected to bust the caps in both defense and non-defense (domestic) bills. All of this is leading to a big fight on spending, which will certainly culminate in a continuing resolution (CR) before the federal fiscal year ends September 30th. Continue reading “July Federal Update”

Senate to Try and Pass Student Loan Interest Bill (again)

Posted on

Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a cloture vote on S. 1238, the Keep Student Loans Affordable Act, which is a measure that would keep the Stafford subsidized interest rate at 3.4 percent for another year. Over 43 Democratic Senators has sponsored the legislation including Senators Murray and Cantwell.

The vote is a cloture vote, which would end the Senate’s debate on the measure and allow the bill a straight up or down vote. A cloture vote requires 60 Senators to agree to end debate, and the legislation is not expected to get the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture.

Despite the anticipated failure of the cloture movement, Senators remain hopeful that some agreement to extend the 3.4 percent interest rate can be reached.